Disputing a method can serve to deny the phenomenon the method reveals.

Evidence

Presumably because of the poorly disguised polemical nature of Hofstätter’s criticisms, Adorno was given an opportunity to reply in the same issue. In his conclusion, he stated clearly what the core of the dispute was: The method is declared to be useless so that the existence of the phenomenon that emerges can be denied.' He exposed Hofstätter's discussion of exposures’ and `accusations’ as an appeal to collective narcissism: the condemnation of mechanisms and of an ideology that had been beaten into people was represented as a condemnation of individuals, so as to stir them up against it. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2043

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Adorno’s insight that ‘the method is declared useless so that the existence of the phenomenon that emerges can be denied’ is a generalizable epistemic tactic — attacking methodology to suppress unwelcome findings — applicable well beyond this dispute.
• XREF: connects to: Repeating a false claim to debunk it increases its plausibility — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice: How to Communicate…, 164; Contradicting false claims serves the claimant, not just the audience — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice: How to Communicate…, 805; Being deceived by a psychological test can inoculate people against trusting test results. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 1854 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Repeating a false claim to debunk it increases its plausibility #exemplifies (0.85) — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 164
• Contradicting false claims serves the claimant, not just the audience #corroborates (0.80) — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 805
• Being deceived by a psychological test can inoculate people against trusting test results. #corroborates (0.75) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 1854
• Denying a bigotry’s existence enables it to spread unchecked #qualifies (0.72)
• To affirm an object is simultaneously to deny that I am it. #corroborates (0.70) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 517
• Willful ignorance is achieved by avoiding actions that would reveal unwanted knowledge #qualifies (0.70)